Public health measures have successfully reduced the incidence of disease due to many highly pathogenic agents, but it has become clear that we are vulnerable to deliberate introduction of infectious agents into the environment. This training grant will draw on research strengths in the following focus areas: Pathogenesis, Toxin Biology, Vaccine Studies and Animal Models of Infection and Immunity, Pulmonary Biology, Infectious Diseases and Host Response, Proteomics/Genomics/Gene Arrays, and Rapid Detection and Environmental Engineering. Dr. Alison Weiss will serve as Director, and Dr. George Deepe will serve as Co-Director of this training grant. They will be joined by highly talented and interactive researchers from the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, College of Engineering, and the Department of Chemistry, as well as UC faculty affiliated with the Children's Hospital Medical Center and the Veteran's Administration Medical Center. The training faculty includes: 21 Professors, eight Associate and six Assistant Professors. An impressive level of external funding is available to the training faculty. Pre- and Postdoctoral PhD trainees will be supported for two years. They will be recruited from individuals admitted to the University of Cincinnati who are interested in bioterrorism research, and committed to working with a training grant faculty member. The MD trainees will be supported for three years, and will be recruited as part of their resident or fellowship-training program, which includes sub-specialty clinical training. Two predoctoral students will be enrolled the first year, with three new trainees added each year thereafter. Two PhD postdoctoral trainees will be enrolled in first year, with one new trainee added each year thereafter. For MD postdoctoral trainees, we will accept one individual the first year and one additional individual in each of the following years. Special resources at the University of Cincinnati Medical Complex include: a brand-new, state-of-the-art P3 Bio-containment facility, proteomics facility, DNA core lab, state-of-the-art NMR facility, X-ray crystallography facility to come on line, and an NIH funded Vaccine Testing Unit centered at Children's Hospital.